Congress hits back at Jaitley over revenge jibe

New Delhi, April 21 (IANS) The Congress on Saturday hit back at Union Minister Arun Jaitley over his remarks terming the impeachment move of opposition members as a “revenge petition”, saying it is important to be “right” than to be on the “right side of powers”.

In a series of tweets, Congress Communications incharge Randeep Singh Surjewala said that UPA government had followed the constitutional procedure under the Judges Inquiry Act for removal of Justice Sourmitra Sen of Calcutta High Court and attached a video showing Jailtey supporting the impeachment move.

“Mr. Jaitley, when you argued for the impeachment of Justice Sen, no one accused you of ‘revenge politics’. Instead the UPA Government followed the Constitutional procedure under the Judges Inquiry Act. It seems your stand on the matter is this,” he said referring to the video.

In another tweet, Surjewala referred to Jaitley’s reaction to the Supreme Court in 2015 striking down National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act.

“Mr. Jaitley, it’s important to be ‘right’ then to be on ‘right side of powers’. Time to jog your memory. If MPs follow a Constitutional process of impeachment, it is ‘politics of revenge’. If Jaitelyji calls Supreme Court decision as a ‘tyranny of the unelected’, it is a valid opinion,” he said.

Jaitley had on Friday accused the Congress of using impeachment motion as a political tool and said it was a revenge petition to intimidate the judiciary following the Supreme Court’s verdict on Judge B.H. Loya’s death.

As many as 64 members of the Rajya Sabha belonging to seven parties led by the Congress had on Friday submitted an impeachment motion to Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the Rajya Sabha Chairman, for the removal of Chief Justice Dipak Misra on five grounds of “misbehaviour.”